Pages

Monday, October 17, 2011

Rock Your iPhone

I knew I wanted to make my own bling iphone case about a month ago. I was reading my favorite blogger Gala Darling's diary about her adventures in Chicago and in one of the photos she is holding up this fabulous gem encrusted iphone cover she bought. It is sparkly pink, hearts, and pearls, and oooh I wanted it. (I have a thing for pink sparkly stuff, maybe I am still just a teen girl at heart). But instead of caving and searching all over for one to buy, I decided I would make my own version. I wanted to see just how hard they were to make, because I could see that they would make outstanding gifts.

This is not a typical Rebel Crafter project as this project takes a few hours to create. I still give it a big thumbs up for the time invested because when you are done you get to hold that little work of art in your hand all the time.

For supplies the blank iphone cases are sold at dollar stores. I went to my dollar store but they were sold out. They said they get them in periodically and to check back. I ended up buying my cases on Etsy for $7, so try the dollar store first. The cabochon trinkets can be found at the craft stores or on Etsy under cabochon in the "supplies" section. You can be creative and recycle stuff too. Many of my trinkets are scrapbooking stickers that I peeled the adhesive off the back before gluing down. Also, consider Gumball machine trinkets, charms for necklaces, earrings, and buttons with the shanks removed. Or skip trinkets and do an all over gem look. The flat back gems are pretty inexpensive. I bought most at Michael's where they have an area devoted to flat back gems and each container is about $2.99. I also bought a little bag of flat back pearls on Etsy.

Flat Back Gems in a couple sizes and colors (you do not want adhesive gems, do not buy the sticky kind) (Check on Ebay, Etsy, also sold at Michael's and other craft stores)

Flat Back Pearls (optional) (Find on Ebay, or Etsy, sometimes sold in craft stores like Michaels but often as stickers. If they are stickers you wil need to remove the adhesive backs)

Cabochon trinkets, refer to our Rockin' Hair Pins for ideas Ideas include dimensional stickers, large plastic gems found in kids crafting area, earring and necklace findings, and charms. If you always use your phone in your pocket stick with smooth gems like the pink case. Pronged gems may catch on your material.

Start by laying out your large trinket pieces on your iphone case until you like the placement.

Glue those down with E-6000. If the trinket is an adhesive plastic sticker make sure you peel off all of the adhesive back before gluing down as adhesive stickers would never hold up to the iphone use.

Next start filling in your gem background.

Take some E-6000 on a toothpick and spread out about 1/2-1 inch area. Do not spread more than 1 inch as the glue dries too quickly.

Use your gem pick up tool or wax pencil to pick up a gem and start placing them. I like to spread out a variety of the gems on my work surface so I can pick up random sizes. Like a puzzle you will have to think about what size works best along corners etc. Decide if you want a pattern (like the border of the pink phone case), or random. I think in some ways the pattern is easier than random.

As you fill in an area stop and take a look to make sure you like everything before moving on.

Continue until your entire front is covered.

Let the cover dry for the evening, or at least an hour or so before continuing down the sides.

Lay out a few gems on the side to find the best placement for the narrow width before gluing down. Again this project is like a small cross stitch, it takes some time, but when you place that last gem on celebrate...you just rocked your iphone!

Let your cover dry for 24-48 hours before using or giving.

Now is the perfect time to start making these little gems for Girlfriends, Sisters, Daughters, and Grand Daughter's. I think any girl would love one of these cases to rock their phone. I sure love mine!

XOX,

The Rebel Crafter

My Husband's before and after Nerium photo at 6 days. Click on the photo if you want to check out my Nerium page. It is a great product with a money back guarantee. Use it for the month and return it on day 29 if you don't love it. But if you are like all my friends you will love it!

This came out sooo great!! I love them!! New follower here. Would love it if you would stop by and share this at my linky party :) http://everything-underthemoon.blogspot.com/2011/11/bedazzle-me-monday-7_6572.html

Also, PRETTY PLEASE stop by and check out Random Act of Kindness Week going on next week! I would love it if you could participate!! More info here:http://everything-underthemoon.blogspot.com/2011/11/kindness-and-thanksgiving.html

I got the wax pencil for $1 on Etsy under "supplies" as a gem pick up tool. It is basically a sticky pencil, but it feels like a waxy ink to me. I am not sure what it is made of though. There are gem pick up tools too. I have one from Archivers scrapbooking. I liked the pencil better though! You just need something sticky to pick up and place the little gems since they are so little.

I'd LOVE to make this for my daughter! She does not have an iphone, but another android. I just want to double check: this is a HARD case you are using, not one of the rubbery/silicone type. Is that correct? If any other crafters know, please feel free to answer my question! Much appreciated!!

Yes you want a hard plastic case. The silicone rubber will not work as well. I got my two covers from Etsy under the supplies section. They were called "blank" plastic cases. They may sell them for other brands. If not look for a plain color plastic case. The dollar stores sometimes have them. Hope this helps!

They usually are rubber so I totally understand your confusion! I think the plastic cases are getting more popular, so hopefully you will find one at the store. If not Etsy should have them in the supplies area of their site. Just make sure to select "supplies" to see the "naked" choices :)

The skeleton charms are Jolee's brand dimensional scrapbooking stickers. You get maybe 12 to a pack so they are on other projects of mine. I always remove the adhesive sticker from the backs just by rubbing them off. Now that Halloween is over if they are gone, you may have to buy them online. But hey you can use the extra ones for the Rockin' Hair Pins project :)

Seriously, awesome!!! I, too, have a thing for pink sparkly things!! But this is great.. I'm really thinking I'm going to have to do this soon! My phone cover is hot pink.. but when I get sick of it.. I'll be referring back to you! Thanks! I'm also following you now!

This is beautful. I am always on the lookout for embellishments. I make Phone covers, jewelry and basically anything I can cover from vintage findings, swarovski crystals, pearls, semi precious gemstones. You can check out some of my work on my FB group chryssies jewelry. All the best to you, and thanks for the leads :)

Thanks for the compliment! Glad you liked it enough to buy one! At this time I am not selling them, but if that changes I will post. I would check Etsy to see if anyone is selling some similar. Gotta love Etsy! :)

Thanks so much for linking up to Your Whims Wednesday, I featured this on my blog tonight! Stop on by and grab a button :) http://www.mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/2012/01/your-whims-wednesday-40-and-features.html

I find the clear crystals to not look as good as the colored ones. The crystals I bought on Etsy under "supplies" were more faceted and definitely looked and worked better. I think the quality must be slightly different than the Michael's ones. I would get some faceted crystals from Etsy. Try those and use more of the flat back pearls and large gems and you might like the look better. Also consider a colored case instead of clear or white one. I like the pink plastic case project better than the white case by far. You get more of a color showing through to light up the gems better.

I hoped you would come back again. Your whole blog kind of embodies the "Drab to Fab" theme. Thanks for showing us this tutorial. How cool and fun to personalize an iphone case. I love this, and I know my readers did too! Thanks for linking girl!

That is some serious bling on your iphone. I love black and pink together (those are the colours on my iphone case, though of course it isn't as awesome as yours). Thanks for linking it up to our LInk It Up Thursday party.

I don't sell these cases as I have been using them :)I may put together a phone kit if anyone is interested. (a bag with all of the gems and cabochons needed to make one). Any interest let me know. If so I will add the kits to my site. :)

I would purchase a phone kit! I have an HTC phone and it is very hard to find a case already made like this for it. I went hunting for all the jewels and had no luck finding any that I like. I would buy the jewels online, but now I don't know how many of each. I bought a case and the glue but still don't have the jewels :/If you decide to put kits together please email me @ bridget_danielle57@yahoo.comThanks :)

I would recommend getting your gems on ebay. Yeah they take awhile to come from (china MOST of the time) another country but its worth the cheap price. Just search around. Can also buy cheap trinkets on there too. Or wholesales of necklaces, break off the loop, and go from there. Losts of ideas. Btw i've heard the best glue to use for there type of projects is gs hypo cemement. It has a detailing nosel therefore you could use it without making a mess like e6000. And you could get a plain iphone case (or any simple case) for about 1 dollar on ebay as well. Everythings usually ALWAYS cheaper there. :) If you're having a hard time finding gems. Look up "Nail art rhinestones" or "Flatback rhinestones" Or you could also use "Flatback pearls" plus more. Just usually put in flatback or nail art. Because its usually sold under there catagories. 1.5mm gems are the smallest and they are TINY! So if you want the gems above go for about 4mm or so. Hope that helps alittle :)

THIS IS SO CUTE! I always love the bedazzled phone cases but they are $$$$! I definitely want to do this! I would love for you to come by and link this great project up at our Naturally-Nifty Linky Party!

The cases were not by pens and pencils etc. but on a different aisle with misc. stuff like ear phones. Definitely ask if they sell them. Apparently they sell out really fast when they get them in. The last one I bought had a sticker on it which I peeled off. You can also buy them on Ebay or Etsy under "supplies".

Thanks--I actually ended up finding a couple at the 3rd dollar tree i went to yesterday. They both have those 3D type flicker stickers on them, which I'm hoping I can peel off. I just wish I could find one that's pink instead of white. I checked etsy and could only find white, black or clear. I asked the people at the dollar tree stores and they looked at me like I had 3 heads--LOL! I'll keep checking back there now that I know they're in with the headphones and flashlights and stuff. THANKS! :)

Thank you so much for linking your projects up to our Friday Block Party. Funny I was in the mall today cursing at the $50 price tag of the phone cases and thinking of how I could save so much by doing it myself. Im going to have to give it a try. Thanks for the inspiration. Have a great weekend and hope to see you again next Friday. Tami @ Curb Alert!

This is absolutely gorgeous! I looked at some phone covers similar to this and they were very pricey. These could be made exactly the way I would like it for half the price. Thank you so much for this tutorial. Do you mind if I pin this to Pinterest?

You can see on the up close shots of the phone that some of the gems get a little crackled or blurry. It isn't very noticeable though when you put that many crystals on the phone. I found there was a difference in the quality of the gems. Some have better backing material so you wouldn't "see through" to the back. The better quality gems were off of Etsy. I also think a colored phone case is less noticeable then on a white case. One reader preferred GS Hypo cement. Try that possibly. I can't recommend it because I haven't tried it. Also Ebay sells crystals too.

I got it on Etsy. When you go on Etsy search by first clicking on "supplies" at the top. Then type in "bow cabochon" and you will get all sorts of plastic bow options. I can't remember if mine was a medium, or large plastic bow though. I love the bow too! :)

Hi! I have loved this case since the first time I saw it! I have entered it in a gallery page called “Ways to Deck the Halls with Glitter”, linking full credit back to your blog, of course. I would love for you to review it and please let me know that I have your approval. Otherwise I will take it off of the page immediately.Thanks, Tami @ Curb Alert!http://tamicurbalert.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Hi,So sorry I missed this comment! Yes any phone cover or remote etc. will work. Hard plastic though. Soft flexible plastic can be tough. You can use this same concept on ipod cases, laptops, readers etc!

Hi,So sorry for the delay!!!! I was out of town. The clear ones can get cloudy. The weird thing is not all do though. The ones I purchased from Etsy didn't, but the cheaper dollar store ones did. There isn't anything you can really do. When you look at my pink case you can see some of the stones are cloudy, but the overall look will still look good :)